This is an English/Mandarin graphic novel about two students from a small Chinese village who attend the same huge Chinese university. You can purchase Vol One and Two on Amazon.
Characters
Wang Xiao Yu was raised by his grandparents in a small mountain town in rural China. Wang’s parents were killed in a coal mining accident when he was a little boy. Losing his parents has always left a great emptiness in his heart, and he has tried his best to fill it with the belief of his grandparents. As an honor to his parents and grandparents, Wang has always worked hard to be very successful in school and in everything he does.
Wang had an opportunity to go to Beijing for college, but he decided to go to a school close to home because he secretly feared having to compete against the top students of the country. In the past, things have come relatively easy for him in regard to school. But, as he enters the university he finds the situation much more difficult than he expected.
Ma Ya Nan comes from the same small town as Xiao Yu. All her life she has been driven to succeed by her father. Her father has always been a stern and overbearing influence in her life. From a young age, he made it known that he would have preferred a boy to Ma Ya Nan. He’s pushed Ma Ya Nan to be the best in everything she has done, but no matter what she does it is never enough to please Father. Ma Ya Nan is never satisfied with herself. She is always looking for an opportunity to change or become better. She deeply resents Xiao Yu because he has always outperformed her in school. Now that they are at school together and in the same major, she wants to distinguish herself however she can. Her motivation is to be the number 1 student in the school- to be well known- to be famous and recognized for her accomplishments. Somehow she believes that if she can achieve that status it will please her father and he will accept her.
Fang Chong is Wang Xiao Yu’s roommate and one of the first people that Ma Ya Nan meets on campus. His father is a powerful businessman who wants Fang Chong to follow in his footsteps. But, Fang Chong cares more about pursuing his secret passion: art. Although he always wears the most fashionable clothes and drives an expensive motorcycle, he secretly cares very little for these material things and instead is only interested in pursuing his dream of becoming a cartoonist. Well, that and girls!
Sun Yu Ting is a free-spirited city girl, raised in the capital of the province and comes from a middle class family. Her primary desire is to have fun, find a boyfriend, and enjoy being free from her family. She cares little for school, and feels that university is her chance to finally become her own person. Sun Yu Ting is very prideful, and thinks of herself as being better than many of the other girls around her. In reality, she has many doubts and fears hidden deep inside, along with a secret that she has never told anyone.
